“Honestly, I don’t know that I’ve gone a day in my life without having your mama’s cooking either,” I said. “She’s a good cook. Why mess with a good thing?”
“She is. Do you sometimes want something different than our den, though?”
I stopped walking. “Do you want to leave our den? Is that why you’re here?” If he wanted to leave, we could do that. I didn’t love the idea, but I wanted Kip to be happy. More than anything.
“No, I really don’t. But traveling more and going on vacations like this is fun. I’d love to meet other shifters and hear about how they do things. We should have one of those conventions where people can meet up and talk about different ideas. Likean enforcer one.” We were back to walking now, and Kip was bouncing as he went, clearly excited to meet his prospective mate today.
That actually was a brilliant idea. “You know, we really should,” I said. “Have you ever talked about that with the Alpha?”
Kip wrinkled his nose. “No. I didn’t even talk to the Alpha when the idea was proposed to bring an omega into the enforcer group. That was all my dad. I mean, I wanted the job, of course. I’ve always wanted the job. I’ve dreamt about following in my father’s footsteps my whole life. Besides, that idea just came to me.”
“You really should think about proposing that idea to the Alpha. He can talk to the other Alphas, and maybe there’s something we could do, even if the first one is just a luncheon. Exchanging ideas like that between dens and packs is brilliant. We can all learn a lot from each other.”
“No, I don’t want to bother him with that. He has so much to do.”
“Kip.” I gripped his forearm as we continued walking. “It’s a good idea. You should take it to the Alpha.”
His cheeks turned red. The tangy sweetness of his embarrassment hit my nostrils. “I’ll think about it.”
“Good.” I moved my hand up farther, squeezing his biceps. His cheeks darkened. Perhaps he wasn’t so immune to my presence? Or it was simply that it was cold and he needed to get inside.
“Let’s get breakfast,” I said.
“Yeah, we want to be ready for the speed-dating event.”
“Yeah, we want to be ready for that.” My stomach twisted, and the idea of eating seemed terrible when faced with the fact that I was going to watch my mate being wooed by other alphas for the rest of the day.
The very real possibility that he might have a mate that wasn’t me seemed to linger in the air like a dark cloud.
I didnotcheck out Kip’s ass as he walked into the restaurant or while he walked through the buffet line. And I definitely didn’t glare at anyone else who tried to look his way.
Kip was very focused on filling his plate. Meanwhile, I barely slapped a few pancakes and some sausage on mine. Kip had grabbed everything. He had a scrambled bake casserole that smelled divine, along with several strips of bacon, sausage links, French toast, and pancakes.
“You really are hungry, aren’t you?”
“Starved. Mom always said it took a lot to feed this body. She says I have a hollow leg.”
More like a third leg. Living in a den of bears who were all close to one another, I knew what my mate was packing. I wasn’t the type of alpha who was opposed to bottoming. I never had, but if Kip was willing, I’d gladly take all eight inches of him.
We sat down at one of the tables. Around us, plenty of other people were filing in, getting their food, and sitting down. The large dining room was packed, which made sense. Branson had double booked all the cabins, so there were twice as many people as usual. The staff was going to be working double-time.
“Oh good, the speed-dating event is right there.” Kip pointed to a smaller dining area just off the main room. “We’ll be able to get started right away.”
“Great,” I said through gritted teeth. I was going to wear down my molars into nothing at this rate.
“I’m really glad you’re here, Braxton. It’s nice not to be alone.”
“Me too, Kip. Me too.” For better or worse, I would get to spend time with my mate without the distraction of whatever job we had as enforcers. All too often Kip and I spent time working together, building sheds, saving kittens from trees, or cleaning gutters for the elderly pack members. It wasn’t often that we just got to hang out.
“Did you sleep all right on that couch? You looked kind of miserable.”
I chuckled. “Well, you’re not wrong. I didn’t sleep well. But it’s fine.”
“Tonight, if we don’t find our mates, you can sleep in the bed with me, or I can sleep on the couch. The bed’s massive. I didn’t even mess up the other side.”
There I went, grinding my teeth again. “Sure, let’s do that.”
“Great!” Kip smiled wildly, like the idea of us sleeping in the same bed would be easy peasy.
